Apocalypse

4

Kate

The whole scene went by so fast. I'm not even sure it really happened.

Sam had run to a crashed, silver minivan just across the street. People were beginning to gather on the edges of the street to watch the havoc unfold. A few looked like they wanted to help, but I wasn't sure what was keeping them away. Looking back on it, I definitely know what was keeping them away now. I wish I'd known before hand, it would haved saved us so much grief.

The driver had managed to wrap the vehicle around a large oak that grew right by the curb. It looked awful, if you were just looking at the car.But if you looked inside, I was sure that whoever was inside had to be dead, or at least knocked out cold and in critical condition. As I got closer I could see better. Inside, there was blood splattered across the windshield and driver's side window.

Something inside was moving.

Sam and I crept closer, Sam just ahead of me. I swallowed as I stepped up to the cracked, tinted glass. People were murmuring to each other, looking worried and shifting their feet but mostly they were quiet. I could barely see inside but something was definitely alive in there. I could see a woman laying still in the driver's seat. Her throat looked... red. I squinted, and saw that her throat had been torn out. She was definitely dead, her eyes stared at nothing through the windshield and her hands hung limply at her sides. I turned to warn Sam immediately but it was already too late. He had managed to pry open the sliding side door and was leaning inside to see what was going on. I yelled at him to get out of the car.

He screamed.

I stared.

Blood sprayed.

More screaming.

Sam stumbled backwards and fell onto his backside on the street, looking shocked as he held his arm. Blood poured down his arm to his finger tips from a gaping wound with torn edges that sat just on his triceps. A couple people in the crowd yelled in horror and all hell broke loose in the crowd. They all began yelling at each other, saying they ether needed to get out of there or help out or kill Sam and the boy and the woman and burn the bodies. I didn't understand, but I stopped caring after a moment and turned my attention back to Sam. His skin had gone white and clammy from the shock. I was about to lean down and help him back up so we could look after his wounds when something made an inhuman roaring noise from inside, and I stopped as it stumbled out of the minivan. It was... a boy.

He couldn't have been more than twelve. I swallowed back bile as I saw the blood running down out of his mouth, staining his orange superhero themed tee-shirt. He must have been sick, so his mom- the driver- had been taking him to the hospital. But he went insane in the car, and so it must have been him who tore out the woman's throat. He'd killed his own mother. Nausea rolled over me but I rushed at the boy anyways and shoved him to the ground, away from Sam. Away from me. Away from all the people that had gathered around us. How could a virus spread so fast?

Sam was shaking and sweaty by now. Shock. It was shock. It had to be. I moved him to the grass so he would be out of the way, and leaned him up against the side of the tree that didn't have the car attached to it. I then told him to stay calm and to try and stop the bleeding, and walked back over to the boy.

He was just struggling back to his feet now. His knees were scraped and guilt washed over me. He made a gurgling growling noise and ran at me. I jumped out of the way but he whirled and came at me again from behind. I gasped in pain as I felt his teeth sink into the skin on my shoulder, hot pain radiating right down my arm and making my hand begin to throb again. He was hanging off my back now, so I threw my weight forward and flipped him onto the ground in front of me. Using my foot on his chest to hold him in place. He screamed so loudly my ears began to ring, but I couldn't let him go. He grabbed at my leg and tried to get at me but I was out of reach for him now.